posted in Technology

beep@beep@piefed.world

US prosecutors charge Atlanta man after GrapheneOS phone wipes itself during airport search

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1289238/us-prosecutors-charge-atlanta-man-after-grapheneos-phone-wipes-itself-during-airport-sea

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/23/cop-city-protester-phone
the GuardianUS government targets Cop City protester over phone operating systemConcern over US effort to prosecute Sam Tunick, accused by authorities of wiping his phone using GrapheneOS
wuffah@wuffah@lemmy.world

Replying to @⁨beep@piefed.world⁩

Tunick asked four times during the interrogation to speak with a lawyer, but was rebuffed each time, according to courtroom testimony. Additionally, the agents produced no warrant and did not read Tunick his rights.

If he’s not even accused of a crime, how is wiping his phone “destroying evidence”? What is the crime being committed here? You are allowed to wipe your own phone, and technically he didn’t even do that.

Furthermore, asking a suspect for their passcode is bargain basement police work. Being surprised when this doesn’t work seems pretty incompetent. I think they’re throwing the book at him because they fucked up.

/home/pineapplelover@pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com

Replying to @⁨wuffah@lemmy.world⁩

I didn’t read the article or anything but he typed in a duress password which wiped the phone right?

Edit: wait, is this article saying they’re tryna charge him for merely using GrapheneOS?

Edit: read it, it says he gave them the duress password. If it were me, I would’ve withheld it and tell them explicitly not to use my duress password

including the erasure of the phone’s contents after he gave them a passcode, due to violations of his constitutional rights

Edited ⁨⁨Jul⁩ ⁨29⁩, ⁨2026⁩, ⁨02:31⁩⁩en